I don’t believe you got the requirements for the Ascension completely correct. My understanding is that the feast remains on the Thursday in the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Omaha, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Hartford, and Boston. It is also my understanding that the Province of Hartford covers CT and RI and that the Province of Boston covers MA, VT, NH, and ME. Assuming what I’ve written is correct, that means there are 4 more states that need to get added to your list.

I too don’t find this funny at all. Quite the opposite. We have enough people not understanding the importance and graces of the sacraments, we don’t need to be making light of it like it’s no big deal. It is a BIG deal!!

No, it is not. And as to the question of whether you should wear that ashes all day or wash them off, see today’s gospel from Matt 6:16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

It may seem like i’m fasting publicly for my own praise, but i know that the mere sight of the ashes on my forehead have prompted several coworkers to get to mass that day. And who knows, given a good enough homily by the priest, they might have a better lent because of it.

I tend to agree with Schwat. Yes, there’s always the danger to our souls of pridefully glorying in our observance of the day. But the ashes on our foreheads also show those around us that observant Catholics live among them, and that we humbly acknowledge that we’re in need of repentance. In this secular age, I’d say that the good that can flow from this is worth risking what could, without diligence, be an occasion of sin.

‘Coming out’, i.e. admitting you are engaging in the sin of homosexuality, should be framed within the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To celebrate or flaunt this sin is simply mocking the Law of Scripture.

Homosexuality isn’t the sin, Ed. Having sex outside marriage is the sin, and that means that *acting* on homosexual inclinations is a sin, since the Catholic church doesn’t marry two people of the same gender.

Of course, having sex with someone of the opposite sex outside marriage is a sin, too.

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